[remote or in person] Board of Education

Education

Wednesday, June 28, 2023
10:30 a.m. — 4:00 p.m. CDT

42 W Madison St Chicago, IL 60602 (Directions)

Chicago Public Schools Loop Office, Garden level conference room

You have the option to document this meeting in person or remotely, via live stream. Please note that Chicago Board of Education meetings run relatively long (the assignment end time is an estimate based on past meetings’ duration).

If you attend the meeting in person, an additional hour will be added to your pay for this assignment. The meeting will be held at Chicago Public Schools Headquarters (42 W. Madison St., Garden Level, board room). Take a photo to let us know you were there. Prior to the pandemic, the CPS board room frequently reached attendee capacity and broadcasted video of the meeting in an overflow room.

If you plan to document remotely, the meeting will be live-streamed at https://www.youtube.com/@ChiPubSchools/streams. The live stream may not appear until or a few minutes after the scheduled start time. If you don’t see it right away, give it a few seconds, then try refreshing your Internet tab to see if it loads. Check the “videos” tab as well.

See also: Slide decks and documents discussed during the meeting will eventually be linked at https://www.cpsboe.org/meetings/past-meetings.

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team

Live reporting by Citlali Perez

The Chicago Board of Education continued its ongoing conversation of safety in Chicago Public Schools.

Citlali Perez @citlaliwrite

Hi, I’ll be live-tweeting today's Board of Education meeting for #CHIdocumenters @CHIdocumenters

11:35 AM Jun 28, 2023 CDT

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Here is the schedule for todays meeting cpsboe.org/content/docume…

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Meeting livestream: : youtube.com

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President del Valle calls meeting to order at 10:33. Roll call is taken. Quorum with 6 members present

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President del Valle gives a run down of the agenda. He points out that this is his last board meeting before his contract expires and talks about his experience leading up to and in his position.

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Honorary student board member kateleen, rising junior at Kenwood talks about herself and what she hopes to bring to the position. Her principle chimes in about her work and leadership

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Honoring excellence run down: out of school programs at various schools have had high enrollment.

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Summer programming - began Monday, as well as free lunch offered at schools.

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School naming and renaming: Toni elementary changed to Monarca Elementary, Caldwell Academy is now Daisy Bales Academy, and Northwest early childhood center is now Catalpa early childhood center.

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Today the tentative budget for 2024 will be presented. A board member talks about the goals for the budget and announces that there are increase in district funding to support different positions at schools, as well as equity grants.

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Registered speakers- beginning with union representatives

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First union rep (missed name) of Namaste charter school talked about re-negotiations. Asks for support of students and families.

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Next union rep - Troy talks about the removal of principal Mohammad, says the charges were false. President del Valle interrupts. Troy continues to give his statement after his time is up. He is told to finish his statement. Three people come up to escort him up.

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Meeting reconvenes at 11:38 - Del Valle apologized for the unplanned recess. Reminds that statements given at meetings are public record.

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First speaker Dwayne Trust thanks Del Valle for his work.

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Alison Jack - with charter schools, talks about the academic success of charter school students.

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Natasha With Raise your hand, talks about the budget and says that not all LSC members have felt confident about the budget timeline and that they need more time to review it.

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Sarah O’Connell - deputy chief of school with distinctive schools talks about her work and how they hope to expand

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Next speaker - Principal of CICS talks about their goals and work with the students.

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Aisha science teacher at north side college prep - talks about her work developing an environmental freedom school and climate action plans for educational facilities. They are asking for sustainable green schools and to address air quality, lead paint, lack of ventilation, mold

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Loren - talks about pollution at Washington school. Asks for support in green school plans. Describes Washington’s issues which she describes as systemic and true for schools across the district.

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Destiny Higgins - teacher at Namaste. Talks about her work to create an inclusive environment for students. Asks for support on contract.

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Judith Gonzalez - Namaste parent and teacher assistant. Talks about faculty leaving and how low staffing has affected her.

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Student at Lincoln park high school - talks about issues in her building: water damage, contaminated water. Proposed solutions: create a safe environment, lead free pipes.

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Tyler, Lindblom student- has worked with the environmental freedom school. Presents his research and work on old water pipes at schools and asks for replacement by next year.

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Natasha Dunn - with black community collaborative and CPS parent. Addresses opportunity gap, and work on a black student success plan with former CEO. Concern about lack of academic support for black students and students with special needs.

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After the last public comment President Del Valle opens up a conversation with board members and other officials present about the concerns regarding lead contamination brought up during public comment. By then CTU members and students who raised concerns have left.

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Del Valle calls on a representative to address the issue of lead in schools. He says there’s annual lead testing at schools. 80 schools are under Lead paint mitigation.
wbez.org/stories/cps-sa…

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He says that it can take 10 working days to address lead issues but may vary depending if there’s other issues that need to be addressed first.

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Del Valle addresses concerns about lead pipes in homes and talks about the city’s work.

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buisness portion of the meeting-- whole school safety presentation by Jadine Chou

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Jadine egins by introducing students and others present who represent different schools and groups who have worked on this.

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Chou says, "This is not just about SROs, this is about whole school safety." She says the focus is on centering school community and student's voice. Acknowledges various viewpoints on the issue of SROs

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The resolution for schools to vote on SRO'spassed in 2020. Since then various schools have removed one or two police officers from their buildings. A complete list can be found here. cps.edu/services-and-s…

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Chou briefly explain the process of the whole school safety plan. cps.edu/globalassets/c…

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Natalia is one of the students present she says that student involvement has lacked across CPS and says that the school environment is important to school safety.

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Shawn Price worked with Austin. He says that Austin has removed SROs and established other alternatives.

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Chou says there are upcoming events such as a conference to learn about the process and receive input.

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Board member Michael Scott asks Chou how they plan to expand and bring in more student voices and what other partner organziations they plan to bring on

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Chou talks about working with Mayor Johnson to partner with schools and organizations during memorial weekend.

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The next presentation covered some data on recent graduates which include how many students graduated with college credit, scholarship money earned, the seal of biliteracy and other achievements

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Next presentation on the 2024 proposed budget given by Mike, deputy chief of the office of finance.

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According to the presentation, "The FY2024 proposed budget for Chicago Public Schools totals $9.4 billion, which includes an increase of nearly $500 million in the District’s operating budget." cpsboe.org/content/docume…

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Board member Scott says that it is important to get support from CTU members and other CPS members to advocate for state funding

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Motions and resolutions to be voted on are read and board members unonismously vote yes. The list of itmes can be found in the agenda. cpsboe.org/content/docume…

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meeting adjurned at 3:16. This concludes the Chicago Board of Education meeting. Materials presented at this and past meetings can be found at BOE website. The next meeting is scheduled for July 24, 2023 at 10:30 AM.. For more meeting coverage, check out documenters.org.

View thread

Attachments

Agenda

By Grace Del Vecchio 6/28/2023

Meeting details

By India Daniels 6/28/2023

Whole School Safety Web Page

By Grace Del Vecchio 6/28/2023

FY24 Budget

By Grace Del Vecchio 6/28/2023

Agency Information

Chicago Public Schools

See Documenters reporting

The Chicago Board of Education is charged with governing the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), setting policies, governing operations, and charting the direction of current and future programs.

A list of board members (with headshots) is here. Board members are currently appointed by the mayor. In 2021, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law that will gradually transition to a 21-member elected school board over the course of 2024-2027.

A list of CPS executive leadership is here.